Virginia's payday lenders have offered yet another reason it is hard to support their arguments -- even for those sympathetic to the notion that adults have enough sense to make reasonable decisions about how and where they borrow money.

During a recent public hearing held by the State Corporation Commission to flesh out the details of a wishy-washy payday-lending law approved by the General Assembly earlier this year, the industry's lobbyists recoiled at the notion that borrowers deserve written and oral notice about their options.

The Times-Dispatch's Greg Edwards reports that oral explanations of loan options would give consumers "too much information" and would slow down the lending process, according to one lobbyist. No doubt, lenders would prefer to hand their customers fat stacks of paper filled with legal jargon that would leave most tax attorneys perplexed, give the poor borrowers 30 seconds to flip through the mess, and then ask sweetly, "Ready to sign?"

Payday lenders have resisted reforms in state law by insisting that their customers are knowledgeable and that they are provided with clear information about the terms of their loans. So when the industry's highly paid persuaders start complaining about having to provide too much information, they succeed mainly in undermining the lenders' credibility, which seems to shrink annually.

Perhaps payday lenders' compounding self-interest rates -- combined with steep penalties for insulting everyone's intelligence -- will convince next year's General Assembly that the time has finally arrived to enact laws that truly protect consumers. We'd be happy to deliver that news -- orally and in writing.